- Will Vodery
Will Vodery (
October 8 ,1885 -November 18 ,1951 ) was anAfrican-American composer , conductor,orchestrator , andarranger , and one of the few black Americans of his time to make a name for himself as a composer on Broadway, working largely forFlorenz Ziegfeld .While Vodery did compose the music for a show called "From Dixie to Broadway" (1924), he is most famous for the
vocal andchoral arrangements that he created for the original Broadway stage production of the classic musical "Show Boat " (1927). His arrangements for the show were used again in theLondon production of the show (1928), and the first revival on Broadway (1932), as well as in both theUniversal Pictures film version (1936), and theprologue to thepart-talkie 1929 film version (also by Universal) ofEdna Ferber 's novel, on which the show is based. Vodery's original arrangements were combined with new ones byPembroke Davenport for the 1946 Broadway revival of "Show Boat".Vodery also created the vocal arrangements for several editions of the "
Ziegfeld Follies ". He also orchestratedGeorge Gershwin 's one-act opera "Blue Monday". WithWill Marion Cook , he wrote the show "Swing Along" (1929).Vodery, however, is largely unknown today, partly because he received no screen credit in the 1936 film version of "Show Boat", and partly because some modern productions of the show do not use his arrangements. He died on
November 18 ,1951 , only four months afterMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer 's 1951Technicolor film version of "Show Boat", on which he did not work, had been released.ources
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0900773 Will Vodery at IMDB]
* [http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?ID=102111 Will Vodery at the Internet Broadway Database]
*Miles Kreuger "Show Boat: The History of a Classic American Musical" ISBN 0-306-80401-8
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